You are here

Enviros Sue Ohio Agency for Public Records of New Drilling Program

"COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An environmental group sued the Ohio Department of Natural Resources this week because the agency has not turned over public records related to a new program that allows oil and gas drilling at state parks."

"The Sierra Club’s Ohio Chapter requested documents about the program more than five months ago, but the department has not provided any records, nor a written explanation for its refusal to fill the request.

'Ohioans have the right to know about the backroom deals being made to bring fracking into our state parks,' Jed Thorp, manager of the Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. 'The reckless natural gas industry has no place fracking on some of our state’s most beautiful public lands.'

The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court seeking the requested records and money for attorneys’ fees and court costs."